Things You Didn’t Even Know You Wanted
by Rube
Summary: Justin never guessed what would really make him happy. A series of (pretty lame) snapshots in Justin’s life.


Title: Things You Didn't Even Know You Wanted

Author: Rube

Rating: PG-13 or R. Pretty mild.

Pairing: Brian/Justin, with mentions of Justin/Ethan

Summary: Justin never guessed what would really make him happy. A series of (pretty lame) snapshots in Justin's life.

Notes: Yeah, I know this is lame, but it's supposed to be. 

Disclaimer: Don't own, don't sue.

Snapshot One: Toothpaste

When Justin was little, he used to have this whole surfeit of ideas about what he wanted when he was in love. They were almost always stupid and unrealistic, and he had to laugh when he sat back and remembered them. In the beginning, there were girls with clear, bone-china skin and tinkling voices, and although he never saw their faces, he saw snapshots of their lives together with perfect clarity. When Justin started realizing he was gay, which was when he was about fourteen, those pseudo-Stepford Wives were replaced with smart, attractive guys in turtlenecks who drank red wine and commented intelligently on Justin's latest sketch with soft, loving smiles.

And then Justin met Brian, and for about a year all of his housewife fantasies were utterly decimated and replaced with sex, sex, and more sex. But after the prom and that fucking dance he could never remember, Justin started craving poetry readings in front of a fireplace, red wine and dark chocolate, flowers and notes tucked in his sock drawer. He even drew Brian wearing a turtleneck a few times. 

Ethan came along, and Justin got all of that. It turned out that red wine with chocolate every night sucked and tasted sour, that most gay men don't know shit about art, and Justin discovered being a housefag was really sort of boring and pointless. Most importantly, though, Ethan was a cheating bastard who gave truly lousy head. 

So of course Justin did the only reasonable thing; he went back to Brian. Brian, who didn't cook for himself but once every three months, Brian who drank JB by the bottle and refused chocolate outright. But Justin was relatively happy, and his happiness ebbed and flowed in subtle waves that ended up being pretty balanced. It was better than Ethan, and it was way better than chocolate.

Some time after Justin's twenty-first, he came home from hanging out with Daphne to find Brian sitting at the computer, working on a design for a new client. Justin murmured his hello and walked into the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for bed, as it was quite late and he had stuff to do in the morning. He was naked and standing at the sink, reaching for his toothbrush actually, when he spotted it. There was a new tube of toothpaste next to his brush, the kind his mother used to get when he was a child; the children's toothpaste, covered with cartoon characters and flavored as bubblegum.

"The hell?" Justin muttered, picking it up and turning it around so the label faced him. When he saw the design, he choked on a mixture of surprise and laughter. "Um, Brian?" he called out, moving from the bathroom to where Brian sat at his desk, the tube still clutched in his hand.

"What?"

"Did you buy this?" Justin held it up; Bubbles, Blossom, and Buttercup stared out at Brian with their huge, anime eyes.

"Oh, yeah." Brian snorted and laugh and took a drag from his cigarette. "I saw that at the drugstore when I went to get condoms."

"You -" Justin blinked. "You *bought* this for *me?*"

"Yeah," Brian said mildly, blowing smoke in his direction. 

"You bought me Powerpuff Girls toothpaste?"

"I know how much you like that shit," was all Brian said. He turned around and went back to his layout, not sparing Justin another glance.

Justin stared at him for a minute before wandering back to the sink. He took the cap off and squirted some of the shiny substance onto his brush. Sure enough, it tasted like bubblegum. 

Jesus Christ. He laughed quietly for a second, shaking his head.

For some reason, Brian giving him toothpaste was, like, a thousand times better than the notion of flowers.


End file.
